Basic Map Editing

Using the Selection Tool Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete Undo and Redo Adding Objects

Modifying Objects Measuring Distances Snap Grid and Gravity Aligning Objects Map Properties AutoNAME

The selection tool is used to select the objects you want to perform any actions on (with the exception of objects in frozen overlays). Selected objects display small black squares called handles on their corners (or on any other points that you can modify). The outer boundary of the selected objects is shown with a dashed red line.

There are several ways to select objects with the selection tool:

To select a single object: Click on the object.

To select all objects within a rectangle: Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse over an area on the screen. When you release the mouse, all the objects completely within that region will be selected.

To select the object closest to the cursor: Press Alt and click on the map. The object that has the closest handle will be selected. Note: Because AutoREALM uses the closest handle and not object edges, an object other than the one you want may be selected. Try clicking near a corner of the desired object.

To cycle through all possible selections in a region: Hold down Alt and drag the mouse over an area on the screen. The selection will cycle through any objects intersecting that region. Repeat the process to cycle the selection again. This mode of selection is useful for selecting objects placed behind other objects.

To select more than one set of objects: Hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys and click to add the closest object, or hold down Ctrl while dragging a rectangle over a region. All the previous objects will remain selected and the new objects will be added to the selection. You can also remove objects from a selection by using Ctrl and reselecting some of the already selected objects.

To select all objects: Click Edit | Select All in the menu.

To select nothing: When the selection tool is active, click and release in a blank portion of the map. Or, at any time, you can 1) Right-click and select "Select None", 2) Click Edit | Select None in the menu, or 3) Press the Esc key.

Once you have selected some objects, you can do the following operations on the entire selection:
Alter the proportions of the selected area.

Move the mouse cursor over one of the hollow red handles on the selection boundary (the mouse cursor will change into a double-headed black arrow). Click and drag the cursor to change the shape of the selected items. If you want to retain the X/Y proportion of the selected objects, hold down the Shift key while dragging the red handle.

Move the selected area.
Move the mouse cursor to one of the edges of the selected area (the mouse cursor will change into a hand). Click and drag the cursor to move all the selected objects.
Alter the object's handles.
Move the mouse cursor over a black handle (the mouse cursor will change into a arrow). Click and drag to move that handle; the effect of moving the handle depends on the object. If more than one handle is on the same point, all of the handles will be moved (if two or more handles are overlapping each other, you may use Alt while dragging to separate them).

Many other functions in AutoREALM work on selected objects, like Cut, Copy, Paste and Delete, Move, Rotate, Scale, Flip, Align, and Create Array.